Official Season Predictions Thread

[waterhead]

Let's hope we only lose 2 or 3 games and make the committee have to give us an appropriate seed. With the teams we have scheduled and what I expect to be an improved RPI for the AAC the committee would have a hard time not seeding us high if we can end the season with 2-4 losses.

I think in terms of talent this will be Mick's best team yet. They have potential to be really special.

I agree it would be nice to force the hand of the committee for seeding.

Some things that probably need to happen if we are going to do this...

Win 3 out of 5 games (or more) between WSU, X, Florida, and UCLA. Win the conference regular season title or the tourney and finish no less than 2nd in either. AAC has to make a push to be in the top 6 conferences RPI. No more than 5 losses.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

My concern for this year is defense. And mainly will Mick still employ his usual crazy switching zone defense or go more to a man to man approach. This team is built to run and be more up and down and man to man. But we all know Mick likes half court strategies, especially on defense. I just don't think we have the makeup this year to run his usual defense. So again, I wonder how stubborn Mick will be with his defensive approach. If he's trying to win games 70-55 and slow the game down, I think we're limiting our strengths. Obviously as in any year well have to see how the season plays out. Mick has more than shown he'll get the most of his team with less talent so let's hope more talent just means we're that much better.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

Also curious to see the playing time and usage of Jenifer and Broome. Broome is an unknown. He can score playground style but will Mick let him do that? Also how good really is he at utilizing his teammates, setting them up to score? I'm actually curious to see Jenifer in an open, fast offense. His passing skills could be exactly what we need with as many scoring options as this team has

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Anyone have any last minute changes?

I'm going to hold firm at 27-4.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I'm getting on board with the Cumberland leading scorer crowd. In his interview with Dan, he said he wishes he would've been more aggressive earlier in the year. I think the way he came on late was just scratching the surface. He's going to have games where he goes nuts. And his teammates will be happy to let him. 11-15 is pretty damn good, even in an exhibition. He's showing maturity by starting to take being in great physical condition seriously. Big things are coming for him. No team in the country wants to face us in the tournament if he's rolling.

 

[waterhead]

Anyone have any last minute changes?

I'm going to hold firm at 27-4.

26-5

 

[JasonS]

26 and 5 regular season seems right to me.

 

[prancer]

Yup, I think 5 losses at the end of the regular season. We've got the 5 toughest matchups against X, Florida, UCLA, and Wichita St x2. Dropping 2-3 of those wouldn't be shocking, and then we'll probably drop another 2-3 via tough road conference games or an off night.

 

[Jon Rycek]

I believe this will be Mick's best team yet. My best guess is we end up somewhere between the 6-8 loss total and anywhere from a 5-8 seed in the NCAA's with a first weekend exit.

Why

 

[Jon Rycek]

In terms of shooting % per Team Rankings we were 13th at home and #4 in efficiency. 50.7% and 1.196. That is excellent!

On the road we were ranked around 300 or so I think in shooting % and 140 or so in efficiency. 40.5% and 1.002. Road shooting was abysmal.

Key word, were. This is a different team. And I'm gonna guess caupain and Johnson skewed those numbers the wrong direction.

 

[Jon Rycek]

Alright, little less optimism than I expected. Maybe because we underachieved last year (tournament), idk.. seems like a lot of people are going with 5-7 losses. That sounds like worst case scenario to me. Would like to find my guess from last year but that's a lot of digging although I may look anyway. If I remember correctly I guessed perfect the second half of the season and was one game of the whole year. This year we know we've got a couple tough OCC games. Xavier, FL, UCLA and Iowa who's probably gonna be better than people think. But still shouldn't be a problem for our team, just to athletic for them. I think we 3-1 those 4 games. And honestly despite what one person said, no team is just flat out better than us this year. We have great play at every position and the deepest bench we've had in recent memory. I think we split Wichita state, and stumble once or twice, possibly to UCF, maybe SMU. Teams just have off nights and we will get caught by someone even if we are that much better. That being said, I put this as a best case 2/3 loss team, worst case 5. But if I had to guess a specific number I'm gonna say 27-4 just to be safe. And a number 2 seed in the tourney if we win conference tourney, 3/4 if we lose.

 

[UC86]

I'll say 27-4 with losses @SMU, @Wichita State, @UCF, and Florida.

 

[Bearcatboy]

I'm switching from 24-7 to 26-5

 

[cincyfan21]

Just joining the party...

Prediction is 28-3 with losses against Florida, @UCF, and @WSU. Xavier is a toss up and I think there is a possibility to drop one to SMU but I just see Cincy and WSU wiping the floor this year in the American. Too much depth and scoring.

 

[Jon Rycek]

Yes Cincyfan I love it. I really think 28-3 is very possible for this team, I don't even consider it a reach. I played it safe with 27-4 but I was right there hoping between 3-4 losses lol.

 

[Jon Rycek]

How could you have ever thought we were losing 7 games lol. Yeah we play some better teams but we are gonna be so much better than last year not sure why you'd think our wins would regress lol. Have some faith we got this. But record is just a record, I know our will be good this year. What I want is some wins in the tournament. We have a real chance of getting a top for seed this year even a 2/3 seed seems fairly likely at this point. We aren't gonna have that tough second round game as usual. This team needs to make a run to become relevant again. We are already starting to see this program reachi ng new heights every year. And mick is young, he can make thi s go on for a long long time. Just gotta keep getting better. Anyway, to me anything less than elite 8 this year is a disappointment.

 

[GarradJ21]

29-2 my friends. Losses @UCLA and @WSU. First place in the AAC and AAC champs. 2 seed.

 

[Jon Rycek]

Here are my predictions for the season. I think I came pretty damn close last year.


Savannah State : W
Western Carolina : W
Coppin State : W
Buffalo* : W
Richmond or UAB* : W
Iowa, Louisiana, South Dakota State or Wyoming* :W
Alabama State: W
@Xavier: W
Florida* : L
Missisippi State : W
@UCLA: L
Arkansas-Pine Bluff: W
Cleveland State : W
Memphis : W
@Temple : W
SMU : W
@USF : W
@UCF : L
ECU : W
Temple : W
@Memphis : L
Houston : W
@UCONN : L
UCF : W
@SMU : L
@Houston: W
Wichita State : W
UCONN : W
Tulsa : W
@Tulane : W
@Wichita State : L


24-7


Summary: 24-7 feels like a drop off from last year but our conference is so much better. Even playing at NKU, I expect UC to protect home court and continue its 26 game win streak.

I'm boldly predicting a victory at Cintas center. Cronin has never entered Cintas with this much offensive fire power. Lets punk them on the glass and face guard Blueitt all the way to victory.

I expect UCF to hand us our first conference loss of the season. We just seem to play bad in Orlando. However if we hit some 3's, we can easily beat them. Were better. Just need to shoot well and get tacko in foul trouble. I'll also predict one upset loss and its to memphis, who we just can't seem to beat in Fedex forum. Another game where we massively out talent them but need to shoot well in that large NBA arena.

I do think we split the series with UCONN. They will have a fire their belly to beat us and finally the talent to do it.

I really wanted to pick UC to finish 26-5 but we have some tough stretches that just seem really tough to walk away with out some bruises.

This is hilarious. Losing 4 road games to UCF, Memphis, UCONN and SMU. We are gonna have 5 conference loses when we had all of 2 last year with a not as good team? Ahhaha

 

[justinhub2003]

This is hilarious. Losing 4 road games to UCF, Memphis, UCONN and SMU. We are gonna have 5 conference loses when we had all of 2 last year with a not as good team? Ahhaha

I love that your stalking my posts as if I’m the enemy of the Bearcats. You got me pinned as negative poster. The reality is I’ve been disappointed with scheduling and disappointed with how we played against Xavier and Florida. That’s it.

I mean I predicted we’d have 2 losses In non conference and we did. Winning on the road in this conference won’t be a cake walk like last year. UCF held smu to 56 points in there own gym and they don’t have bj Taylor back. Smu has a home court record just as good as ours. Houston is going to be really tough. Wichita state rarely loses in Koch arena, and we never play well @temple. Tell me where I’m off base?

Winning on the road against good teams is really ******* hard.

I mean, are you going to predict that we only take 2 losses? I’ll gkadly hope your right, but I’m a realist. I want to protect home court, and steal a few road wins

 

[justinhub2003]

Also keep in mind I made these predictions BEFORE a single game was played.

Obviously UConn under achieved , Houston over achieved

Quit being butthurt.

Hopefully your donating to the program and are a season ticket holder